D4 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020
FROM NEWS SERVICESThe Miami Dolphins’ coronavi-
rus situation appears to have got-
ten worse.
Just days after securing a come-
back victory against the Arizona
Cardinals without five assistant
coaches, the Dolphins probably
will be without two starting de-
fenders this weekend because of
coronavirus protocols.
The Dolphins placed veteran
outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy,
second-year defensive tackle
Christian Wilkins and practice
squad wide receiver Matt Cole on
the NFL’s covid-19 reserve list
Thursday.
All three players could miss
Sunday’s game against the Los
Angeles Chargers, when the Dol-
phins hope to extend their four-
gam e winning streak and im-
prove their second-place standing
in the AFC East and seventh-place
standing in the AFC playoff race.
“ Our guys have done a good job
as far as having the next-man-up
mentality. Whether it’s players,
coaches, equipment, training
room — I think everyone has that
mentality,” Dolphins Coach Brian
Flores said before Thursday’s
practice, which Van Noy, Wilkins
and Cole missed.
The team also removed rookie
wide receiver Lynn Bowden Jr.
from the list, which denotes a
player has either tested positive or
been in contact with someone
who tested positive.
Even if a player tests negative,
NFL regulations state players
must quarantine for at least five
days — which could put Wilkins,
Van Noy and Cole out of Sunday’s
game.
l BROWNS: Nick Chubb spent
the past five weeks watching,
waiting, brooding. He’s finally
back doing what he enjoys most
and does best: playing.
Shelved four games by a
sprained right knee that slowed
Clev eland’s potent rushing attack
significantly, the Pro Bowl back is
set to return to the lineup Sunday
as the Browns (5-3) return from
the bye week and host the Hous-
ton Texans (2-6).
Chubb’s return has his team-
mates elated.
“Nick is damn near superhu-
man,” said right guard Wyatt Tell-
er, also back after missing three
games with a calf strain.
Chubb hasn’t played since
Oct. 4, when his knee got bent
awkwardly in the first quarter of a
win over the Dallas Cowboys.
l RAVENS: Baltimore placed
cornerback Iman Marshall on the
covid-19 reserve list.
Marshall, a 2019 fourth-round
pick, was placed on season-end-
ing injured reserve in August af-
ter suffering a “major knee injury”
the day before the team’s first
padded practice.
The Ravens, who have reen-
tered the NFL’s intensive proto-
col, said there were no high-risk
close contacts with teammates or
staff members.
“We will continue to work
closely with the NFL, our team
doctors and trainers and will fol-
low their guidance,” the team said
in a statement.
l SEAHAWKS: For weeks, one
of the favored questions thrown at
Seattle Coach Pete Carroll con-
cerned the debut of 2016 all-pro
Damon “Snacks” Harrison.
When no one asked Carroll
about it earlier this week, the
coach brought it up on his own.
“I can’t believe we’re almost
done with this and nobody has
asked about Snacks. First time,”
Carroll said.
Carroll wanted to bring it up
because this is expected to be the
week Harrison finally makes his
debut when the Seahawks visit
the Los Angeles Rams. With de-
fensive tackle Bryan Mone deal-
ing with a high-ankle sprain suf-
fered last week against Buffalo,
the Seahawks have a need on their
defensive front and an experi-
enced veteran sitting on their
practice squad waiting for his op-
portunity.
l RATINGS: The NFL was not
expected to be immune from the
ratings declines that have hit all
sports this year because of the
coronavirus pandemic and presi-
dential election. But the declines
are not as bad as feared at the
beginning of the season.
Games are averaging 15.1 mil-
lion television and digital view-
ers, according to the league and
Nielsen, a 6 percent decline from
last year. Despite the decreases,
all but four of the top 30 shows
since the season began have been
NFL games.
The Thursday and Sunday
night packages have suffered the
biggest declines, with each pack-
age down 16 percent.NFL NOTESVirus issues
force Miami
to shelve
two starters
members and broadcast workers,
scattered about the course, the
environment was completely dif-
ferent.
“It feels like you’re out here
preparing for a Masters,” Ameri-
can Kevin Kisner said, “not really
playing in a Masters.”
Except when the first round
resumes, it still will be for real.
Given sunset here will be
5:26 p.m. Friday, it’s unlikely the
cut will be made until Saturday
morning. Woods, though, expects
not only to make it — even if this
Masters is unprecedented, even if
few are here to see it — but to
contend.
“A lot of firsts today,” he said.
“That’s kind of the way this entire
year has been. The fact that we’re
able to compete for a Masters this
year, considering all that’s been
going on, it’s a g reat opportunity
for all of us.”
[email protected]came here having played just six
events since the PGA Tour re-
turned from its pandemic pause.
His best finish: tied for 37th at the
PGA Championship. He missed
the cut at the U.S. Open in Sep-
tember.
Yet when he came here a year
ago — following the four back
surgeries that so severely limited
him for the better part of five
years — he hadn’t won a major
since 2008. There is comfort here,
regardless of the month on the
calendar.
“Understanding how to play
this golf course is so important,”
Woods said.
Even in unprecedented condi-
tions. Because of the pandemic,
Augusta National officials an-
nounced in August that this Mas-
ters would be staged without fans.
The stakes are the same. But with
only several dozen reporters and
photographers, plus several clubdo,” Oosthuizen said, “and all of a
sudden you’ve got to hit it a lot
firmer.”
That may have changed some
by Friday morning, when the first
round is due to resume at 7:30.
Among the players still to com-
plete their opening 18 who have a
chance of catching Casey: Thom-
as, who birdied six of his first
10 holes; 2013 Masters champ
Adam Scott of Australia, who is at
4 under through 10 and is joined
there by American Matthew Wolff
(through 11) and South Africa’s
Dylan Frittelli (through nine);
and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson,
who played his bogey-free open-
ing nine in 3 under.
Still, none of those players car-
ry with them the accomplish-
ments or aura of Woods — whose
Thursday performance could be
considered a surprise, if not for
the venue and the event. The
44-year-old winner of 15 majorshave to be aggressive. There’s no
reason why you can’t fire at a l ot of
the flags.”
That is likely to change, given
that the forecast through the
weekend calls for no significant
precipitation. Augusta National
is famous for teasing the field on a
Thursday, then taunting it over
the weekend.
There is, though, new territory
here. Though the greens will dry
out and the course will play a tad
firmer, there’s no way to perfectly
replicate a springtime venue in
autumn. The powers who run
Augusta National can do almost
anything as it relates to their golf
course, but they couldn’t stop the
coronavirus pandemic that
caused the postponement from
the spring, and they can’t force
vegetation to act in November as
it would in April.
“It was tricky on the greens
because you know what it used to“I don’t think we’ll ever get an
opportunity to go at pins like
that,” said South Africa’s Louis
Oosthuizen, who turned in a tidy
68.
So Woods took advantage. His
opening round featured no bo-
geys and, by his own assessment,
just one missed shot — a sloppy
approach into the par-5 eighth
that left him with a par rather
than a birdie. Other than that, he
could complain about nothing.
His first-round scores in his five
previous wins: 70, 70, 70, 74 and
- His first round Thursday: 68, a
score he has matched in the open-
ing round here just once — 2010,
when he tied for fourth.
“I got off to a fast start today,
which is good, but I think every-
one is,” Woods said. “Everyone is
going low out there today. With
these conditions, you have to. You
MASTERS FROM D1
After the storm, Augusta opens up for low scores
practice, Smith will get all the
practice reps with Washington’s
first-team offense this week. He
will get a clearer visual of the
defensive looks he might see
Sunday and gain a better rhythm
with his receivers and backs. He
will get a better feel for anticipat-
ing throws and various scenarios.
He will get a game plan geared
more toward him — and prob-
ably with significant input from
him.
And he will resume a role that
once was so familiar but now is
different. A different kind of
challenge.
“I’ve said this a bunch,” Smith
said, “but certainly why I chased
this coming back, that feeling of
being on the line, toeing the line,
putting yourself out there with
this game and how important
every week is, it’s an amazing
feeling. I love the challenge.”
[email protected]fourth quarter. Rivera has
pushed back against any insinua-
tion that Smith was the primary
reason for the team’s loss, argu-
ing instead that mistakes were
shared by all three phases.
“Those were plays that he tried
to force as opposed to trying to
take what he would’ve gotten if
they had been normal downs,”
Rivera said of Smith’s last two
interceptions. “Again, he played
pretty doggone well.... I’m not
sure if judging him on those last
two interceptions was fair.”
How much Washington’s of-
fense will change — and how
much Smith’s play will evolve —
going forward remains to be
seen. But perhaps the most no-
ticeable difference, at least ini-
tially, will come from his week of
preparation.
Unlike his first two games this
season, when he came off the
bench after taking limited reps inteam’s win.
Scott Turner agreed “to a cer-
tain extent.” Yes, Washington’s
offense appeared different when
Smith took over against the Gi-
ants. But even Smith appeared
different from his first outing,
and the flow of the game dictated
many of the changes.
The same offense that amassed
208 rushing yards in Week 7
carried the ball only nine times
against the Giants. But it also
used run-pass options at a h igher
rate than it had in the previous
three games, totaled a season-
high 407 yards and had four
completions of more than
30 yards.
Quarterback? Or circum-
stances?
“There’s not a huge difference.
Both guys are cerebral guys,”
Turner said of Allen and Smith.
“They’re going to read the de-
fense; they’re going to get the ball
where it needs to be. The game
plan that we had prepared all
week, that was the game plan for
them that obviously was geared a
little bit more toward Kyle. But
Alex is more than capable of
doing all that stuff.
“Alex, credit to him, is a guy
that — as a No. 2, you’re not
getting a lot of reps through the
week. You’re getting a couple
here and there, but it was Kyle. I
called it as if he was ready to play
because I know Alex is a pro and
he was prepared even without
the reps. For the most part, he
executed. Obviously, there were
some plays that he would like
back, but he gave us a chance to
win that game.”
Smith had 325 passing yards in
the loss to New York but also
three interceptions, including
two that ended Washington’s
shot at a c omeback win late in theWASHINGTON FROM D1Smith’s return may mean more change
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Alex Smith is expected to make his first start in nearly two years
when Washington plays the Lions in Detroit on S unday afternoon.BY TERESA M. WALKERnashville — Philip Rivers
threw for 308 yards and a touch-
down and Nyheim Hines scored
twice as the Indianapolis Colts
beat the Tennessee Titans, 34-17,
on Thursday night to grab the
head-to-head edge atop the AFC
South.
The Colts (6-3) will host the
rematch in Indianapolis on
Nov. 29 after helping Coach Frank
Reich improve to 4-1 against Ti-
tans Coach Mike Vrabel. Indian-
apolis is 14-5 at Nissan Stadium.
“We get a huge special teams
touchdown, and then offensively,
shoot, we were rolling pretty good
all day,” Rivers said. “We were
very balanced, kind of got in a
rhythm with the no-huddle. This
was a huge road division win.”
Rivers came in needing only
four passing yards to move by
Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the
fifth most in NFL history. He
passed Marino on the Colts’ first
play from scrimmage with an
11-yard pass to rookie Jonathan
Taylor. Rivers now has
61,666 yards for his career. He
also made his 233rd consecutive
start and is one away from tying
Eli Manning for the 10th-longest
streak in league history.
Indianapolis came in with the
NFL’s best defense in terms of
fewest yards allowed. The Colts
smothered a Tennessee offense
that had been averaging
384.6 yards a game, 10th best in
the NFL, and ranked seventh
averaging 29 points. E.J. Speed
also blocked a punt that T.J. Car-
rie returned six yards for a touch-
down late in the third quarter.
The Colts outgained Tennessee
430 yards to 294, though Derrick
Henry ran for 103 yards.
The Titans (6-3) lost for the
third time in four games as they
head into the toughest stretch of
their season with Indianapolis
the first of four straight oppo-
nents currently with winning rec-
ords.
Tennessee led 17-13 at halftime.
Indianapolis took advantage of
the Titans’ special teams woes to
score twice in the third quarter
for a 27-17 lead.
The Titans went with a third
different punter in three games,
promoting Trevor Daniel after
signing him to the practice squad
last weekend. Daniel’s first punt
went 17 yards, and Hines, cel-
ebrating his 24th birthday, scored
four plays later on a two-yard
touchdown run. The Titans gave
Daniel no help on his second,
with Speed easily breaking
through for the block.
Stephen Gostkowski then
missed a 44-yard field goal wide
right early in the fourth.
“We’re going to have to evalu-
ate everything that we do,” Vrabel
said.
The Colts padded their lead to
34-17, with backup quarterback
Jacoby Brissett capping the next
drive with a two-yard touchdown
run with 9:21 left.
“We finished the way we need-
ed to finish,” Reich said.
Indianapolis’s final margin
would have been larger, but the
Colts settled for a 43-yard field
goal at the end of the first half and
the Titans forced a turnover on
downs on Indianapolis’s opening
drive of the third.
— Associated PressR ivers, Colts stand tall
in AFC South showdown
COLTS 34,
TITANS 17DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESSAfter shooting a first-round 65, Paul Casey said: “To be honest, you rarely walk off this golf course going, ‘It could have been two or three better.’ But it kind of felt that way.”